In Her Own Time
by SpeedBump
Summary: L/M...blah blah, Mara discovers her original family..blah blah, Luke comes along...


soooooooo....I have another project due on Monday....so of course, I feel it's about time to write another one of these....I don't know why...they just happen! Anywho...disclaimer!

Mara Jade shifted nervously on the stone doorsil. She took two steps back, glanced around at the leafy vegitation surrounding the stone building. From the looks of it, it was a humble farmer's dwelling. Ninty-eight percent of this world's industry was agricultural, she knew this fact ahead of time, but it was still felt foregin to her to consider herself a farmer's daughter. Mara tugged at her tunic, ignoring the shaking feeling in her legs. Skywalker was waiting for her by a stump on the road, she could feel him watching her. She took a deep breath and tried not to think. There was a step behind the wooden door and the knob turned. Mara inhaled sharply. The door had opened to reveal a woman about her age holding a baby on her hip. The woman's bright green eyes flashed and color rushed in her cheeks as she looked at Mara. Mara's pulse raced. Her mouth was dry. She tried to open her mouth to say what she had prepared to say, her name, that she had found Imperial Records that said she had been taken from this town as an infant and that the local barkeep had told her the family listed on the record owned this homestead. She had prepared herself, mentally she told herself. She had gone through this a million times in her head. She was unable to speak. The other woman seemed to be in quite the same boat, Mara could feel the shock radiating out of her in waves. Well, Mara thought, I at least have a sister. The woman standing before her was almost her duplicate. She was a little shorter, and her face was a little softer, but the eyes and hair were the same. Mara didn't know how much time they passed staring at each other in shock before she felt Skywalker coming up behind her. Irritation flared in her.

"Hello, is this the farm of Marcus?" He spoke in Basic. The woman's bright green eyes shifted to Luke and Mara watched them widen. Glancing back at Mara, she nodded. She turned and called into the house. Two men came forward, both older than her, one with gray at his temples. Luke slipped the datapad from Mara's lifeless hand. The two men stared at Mara and then at Luke. The woman finally spoke in heavily accented Basic.

"Who are you?" She addressed the question to Mara. Mara felt her mouth open.

"Mara Jade-" Luke cut her off and handed the datapad over.

"We found this Record in the Imperial Archives, regarding the abduction of a young girl about 30 standard years ago-" The younger man grabbed the datapad. The older muttered "Marahe" and the woman grabbed her arm. Mara felt like a ship a sea. She felt Luke's hand on the small of her back, gently prodding her forward. The woman now fixed her with a direct stare.

"Marahe? Is you?" Mara blinked hard and nodded. The woman pulled her into an embrace, and the world seemed to explode into noise. There was excitement, clapping, the men were talking quickly in an language she didn't understand and shaking Luke's hand. She felt Luke's gentle amusement and when the woman released her from her crushing embrace, his hand gently found her elbow again. They were drawn in, seated at a wooden table and food and drink pressed on them. There were two other women in the kitchen, preparing a midday meal, a group of children all different ages scampered in and out, pausing to stare at the strangers and giggle. The woman, Moira, Mara soon learned, sat next to her, and directed one of the children to bring her a photo album. The two men, sat across from her, leaning back in their chairs, relaxed and jovial, muttering to each other. The smell of food cooking warmed the kitchen. She could feel Luke's calm next to her and a tiny part of her admitted it was glad she had asked him to come.

Moira flipped through the pages of the album with dexterity, stopping finally on a faded group photo. A man and a woman, smiling in front of the house they now occupied. Two boys stood stiffly at their father's side, the younger one looking down and the older one holding his chin up defiantly. In front of them, a small girl stood holding her father's hand, her bright hair shining in the sunlight. The woman, Mara finally allowed herself to look, had brown hair and was smiling down at an infant in her arms as her husband looked on. Moira's finger tapped the man.

"Marcus, father." Then moved to the older of the boys "Dav" She pointed at the man with graying hair. He smiled at her, Mara noticed he too had green eyes. The younger boy, "Jom." Jom had red hair too, and there was something about his smile that strongly reminded Mara of her own. Then Moira pointed her own self out, holding her father's hand, before tapping her mother's picture. "Moira, mother. And little Marahe." Moira smiled at the picture. Mara figited.

"Moira, and Marcus? Where are they?" She managed to ask. Moira's eyes closed over and she set back in her chair. Dav leaned forward.

"Dead." He paused. Mara wasn't sure if he spoke enough Basic to explain further, but then he continued, "when Empire took you." Mara nodded. It was overwhelming to suddenly have a history. They sat and talked for hours, she was introduced to her brother's wives and all their children, Moira's husband and children, and she learned some of the family history. Luke sat patiently by her side, making limited jokes with her brothers.

Over the course of several weeks, Mara learned a lot of the language, a lot about her family and too much about how to run a family farm. Luke spent most of the days out with her brothers on their respective farms helping them, and the evenings he spent playing force games with the children. Nearly all of them had some sort of ability, although Mara's gift greatly over shadowed the rest of her family's. There was a reason the Emperor had selected her. Mara spent her days with her sister, learning how to cook, and helping her prepare for one of her niece's wedding. Her sister was bright and loud, Mara found, quick with a joke or a laugh. But there was an inner steel Mara glimpsed that she knew she shared. She resisted telling her family much about her time with the Emperor and what her life had become since she had left them. Maybe one day it would be time for that, but for right now, simply becoming accustomed to one another and the culture she had been deprived of seemed overwhelming enough.

Luke took to life on her family's farm like he'd been born to it. He was good friends with all her siblings, and she'd caught more than one niece making moon eyes at him during dinner. once they figured out that the blond headed stranger with the stranger that looked exactly like one of them was in fact the famous savior of the galaxy, the kids couldn't get enough of him. Luke bore it all with a good humor, deflecting their questions and requests for demonstrations. Mara begrudgingly admitted to herself that she had indeed needed him on this trip.

At first she was determined to make the trip on her own, by herself, but she had felt anxiety rise in her whenever she tried to imagine her family. Fear began to grow in her mind about her abilities to relate to normal people she didn't remember. She was not readily equipped to deal with personal and complex relationships. It plagued her day and night while she was making her arrangements. Slowly, she felt her mind turning towards Luke. She had told herself, upon landing unannounced on Yavin, that she simply wanted his advice, his opinion to untangle her emotions. But she knew, when he sat down across from her, she was here to plead for his help. She had not managed to do so gracefully, but Luke's response was completely earnest and supportive. He had cheerfully put aside all his classes and done his best to ease her tension on the trip. He had been her ambassador, he assured her welcome into her family. There were still things she could not explain about herself to those unfamiliar with her story, and Luke's presence assured her that someone would be able to. She normally would have felt galled at owing Skywalker anything, but she knew he was helping her as he would have helped any of his friends, and a very well-hidden part of her found it flattering.

One night, after she had finished helping the children to bed, she stepped outside into the night air for a moment of reflection. Moira and her husband and Luke were finishing their dinners at the kitchen table, and the sounds of their meal drifted out to her on the night breeze. Mara looked at the stars and wondered at the sudden right angle her life had taken. All of a sudden she came from somewhere. There were people that hadn't forgotten her, as long as she had been gone, and maybe there was some hope for her. She had caught herself watching her sister enviously, when she was scolding her children, laughing with her husband, marking the way she so easily turned her emotions. She had never learned to be free with her moods. Emotion was something to be kept in check lest it betray your purpose. She supposed she was lucky the Emperor had only taught her a few tricks of the force instead of twisting her to the dark side. Simple fate had tried hard enough at that. She set her crossed arms on the stone wall at the edge of the courtyard, staring out into the dark shapes of the night.

She'd lived in cities and towers and ships all her life, but the Emperor had made sure she had received particularly detailed natural survival training. She had never forgotten the feeling of being connected to the wildness around her, of knowing she could become one with nature. In the wild, she had felt the force stronger and easier, like a pulse beating under her feet, flowing around her, enveloping her, like a cork in a stream. She could sense it in Luke too. She had seen him this morning, coming across the field behind the house, the mist snagging at his shoulders as he moved through the tall grass. The newly broken sun glinted in his hair and the expression on his face as he surveyed the wood around him, she felt like an electric jolt running down her spine. Mara bit her lower lip uneasily.

The wind pulled loose hairs across her cheek and she sighed and looked up at the stars. She felt Luke approach behind her.

"Hey farmgirl." He came to stand next to her in the shadows and she could feel himself laughing inwardly at his own joke.

"oh you are sooooooo funny, Skywalker." She rolled her eyes. Luke smiled and fell silent. Mara rubbed her eyes. "I have a trading mission soon." She discovered she didn't want to leave. "Never, in a thousand years, would I have thought my family would be so big and loud." She muttered. She felt Luke smile beside her. "it's like second nature to you, though, huh?" She glanced at him. Luke raised his eyebrows.

"I for sure never had a big, loud family until Leia got pregnant." Mara shrugged and dropped her eyes.

"I don't know if I'll ever fit in." This was a new part of their relationship, or really even just herself, admitting weakness. The wind fluttered by and Mara as she weighed the decision to speak. She suddenly became aware of Luke's gaze on her face. She turned to him, taking a step back, but he caught her hand. His voice was quiet.

"Listen Jade, with all I've seen on this trip, I could not be more convinced that you fit in fine here and in this kind of life."

Mara couldn't bring herself to look at him. She thought about all the secret longings that had been stirring in her soul, and all the private fears that accompanied them. And she thought about the warmth and kindness in Luke's voice when he agreed to come with her. She could feel his eyes on her face and she knew that her flush was visible in the dim light, and heat and confusion rose in her chest and she couldn't name why. And then she realized that he was still holding her hand and his thumb was warm and rough and making circles on the back of her palm. Overcome, she wrenched her wrist from his grip and fled back into the house, casting one last look over her shoulder, where Luke stood, watching her.

Two days later, Mara's niece got married. Even for her, it had been a frazzling few hours, and she had had very little to do with it. Mara sighed and glanced down at her glass. The ceremony had gone off without a hitch, despite her sister-in-law's fretting. There was a celebration held at her brother's barn. They had cleared the floor of the building and set up tables and chairs. Half the town had shown up, and brought with them their own home-brewed alcohol, as was custom, she was told. The stuff was as harsh as any she'd ever drank in her life, but there was no way she was going to let Skywalker out-drink her. Some of the local boys and her brother Dav were playing a heavy dance tune at one end of the barn on various instruments she'd never seen before. Everyone was on the dance floor, Mara watched her sister moving through the complicated motions of the dance with her husband. They both appeared to be a bit squiffy, which did not dampen their enthusiasm. Mara found herself smiling.

There was a step beside her and Skywalker sat down.

"what glass are you on?" She'd given him crap earlier about being able to drink him under the table. They hadn't revisited their earlier conversation and she had managed to pretend like nothing had happened, but she could feel it hanging in the air between them. He leaned groggily back in the chair and stretched his arm out on the chair behind her.

"five." Mara lied, looking at him. He looked dismayed.

"well shit. I'm only on four and I can't see too straight. This stuff is ridiculous." Mara found herself smiling again. And then she realized that she'd been looking at him and smiling. His blue eyes leaped to smile back at her and she found herself reminded of that morning three days ago when she'd seen him in the field. She bit her lip and dropped her eyes. Luke leaned forward next to her on the table. The romping music filled her ears and the heat from Luke's presence fired her veins. Either she was more drunk than she thought, or it had been far too long since she'd been properly drunk, because she felt the iron control over her secret thoughts slipping, and she wanted nothing more than to lean against him now, to fit under his arm, to feel the rise and fall of his breaths against her own ribs and simply be a woman without a past. Unable to articulate any of this, she dimly wondered if her shields were low enough that he could sense her thoughts. Luke sighed and his calloused hand deftly and delicately circled her bare wrist as he clumsily stood.

"A dance, milady?" Distantly, Mara felt the blood rush in her palm. He was a little drunk, she thought, but gracefully so. She eyed him warily. There was a challenge in his eyes and adrenaline rushed her veins. She stood and they made their way to the floor. Mara found herself biting back her laughter as he resolutely attempted to break into the swirling couples. The music was too fast and his reactions too slow. Mara couldn't help smiling around her bottom lip. He cursed under his breath and Mara bit her lip. She felt him smile at her.

"Fine." He muttered, turning toward her, "you lead." Mara bit her lip but smiled at his chin and carefully pulled his arm around her, pausing for a moment to check the traffic behind her. The drink and the smoke made everything feel fuzzy and warm, and Luke's hands made her chest tighten. She could hear his breath catch above her and without warning, she stepped backwards, into the dance, drawing him with her. Luke's hand slipped lower on her waist and Mara found all of her being suddenly focused onto his nearness, of his body moving against hers. She could smell the alcohol on his breath and the rough provincial soap rising off his skin. Her earlier yearning returned and helplessly she let herself move the slightest bit farther into his arms, her cheek hovering above his chest. Luke tipped his head down and smiled easily at her, and his hand moved farther across her back, burning through the material of her dress. Mara found herself unable to focus, moving through the dance on pure instinct, feeling the muscles of his shoulder shift under her hand, watching the blond stubble on his throat glint in the dim light as his head turned. Heat consumed her, and suddenly she realized that the music had paused and they were on the dim edge of the floor. And that he was holding her tight against him and that her hands had slipped down against his chest and his palm was cupping her face as his breath puffed on her cheek. Stunned for a long moment, she stood still. Then she felt Luke's tentative sense, and her habitual defenses reasserted themselves, slamming through the drink and whirling confusion in her mind.

She wrenched herself out of his arms and in a few quick strides had exited the barn. The cool night made her aware of the flush running her cheeks, and she realized that she was dangerously close to crying. Biting her lip she leaned against the side of the barn, wondering if she was going to puke. She heard the door swing open behind her and the slightly unsteady step of Luke's feet. His boots paused beside her.

"Mara." Luke's voice was a little uneven and his hand reach out to snag her elbow, probably to help pull her upright, but panic flared in her chest and she was unable to stop herself from wrenching violently away. Luke froze, hurt marked his features as he stood before her in the moonlight and his blue eyes were heavy on hers for a long moment. He sighed.

"it's only me, Mara." His voice was quiet and she saw that the hurt was gone from his face and that he was ruffling his hair clumsily in the moonlight. Her previous longings came crashing down on her, and in her inebriated state she knew that her shields didn't keep them from Luke. She felt shock ripple out of him and felt his eyes boring into her skull. She felt him slowly moving forward. The heat of his presence and scent of his body brushed against her and she felt his breath drawing down her face and she could not stop herself from shivering.

"Mara." Unable to breath, panic roaring in her ears, Mara willed her eyes to open and found Luke's inches from her own. His big warm hand cradled her cheek, his thumb brushed her cheek by her eye. For a long moment Mara refused to meet his gaze, her breath caught in her chest, fear rioting inside her. She felt him sigh and his sense of calm surrounded her as his lips descended on her own. For a few heartbeats she was frozen against him, hands still clenched behind her, her lungs bursting with bottled breath, and then she found herself gradually responding, tilting her chin upwards, pressing back against his mouth. Unbidden, one of her hands rose to grasp the back of his neck and she felt his fingers against her waist as he slowly closed the distance between their bodies, once again pulling her snug against him. Fire burned upwards from her stomach and the shock of the force of her reaction jarred her from his lips. Speechless, she stared at him through the moonlight, flushed and stricken. Luke met her gaze evenly, looking steadily back at her, unabashed, unafraid. After a long moment, his hand by her ear slid down her heated cheek and his thumb brushed down the bridge of her nose and came to rest against her lips. Mara felt herself shaking and she saw his lips quirk and he took a deep breath and Mara felt his sense recede. His hand dropped from her lips and found hers where it was still awkwardly clenched behind the small of her back and he gently pulled her along with him.

He walked her home, swinging their still-joined hands between them, not speaking, not looking at her. Mara felt her panic fade and in it's place anger bubbled up, anger at his silent and calm exterior, anger that he had had the gall to take advantage of her drunken longings and then just pull away like nothing had happened, and most of all, anger at herself for being so unforgivably weak and vulnerable. Silently, Mara railed at herself and the world and she felt her irritation magnify with every step they took. Finally, they reached her sister's house. Renewing her decision to be strong, she jerked her hand from his. Luke halted, looking at her questioningly.

"So that's it then?" She heard her own voice rough and shaking against the backdrop of the night. "you just- drag me off like some- some- idiotic nerfherder? Like I'm some idiot-" Luke silently stepped closer to her, and her voice faded, dropped off, failed her. Luke's warm hand found her chin and she shivered as he traced her lips again with his fingers. She felt his presence between them, hovering, hesitating, before he inhaled and stepped backwards away from her sharply. He ran both his hands over his face and Mara thought she could sense some frustration in his sense.

"Look, you can yell at me tomorrow. I'm tired, you're tired, we're both drunk-" Mara bit her lip against the surge of irritation at his words. He smiled at her and raked his hand back through his hair. "I will see you tomorrow, Jade." And with that the infuriating, galling son-of-a-bitch turned and dissapeared into his room, leaving Mara alone in the hall with her vulnerabilities. She did not sleep well that night.

Early the next morning she was fitfully awakened by the rest of the family arriving back home. She heard them banging around the house downstairs, her sister's voice muted, and then their doors open and shut, and silence fell. Sighing, Mara swung her legs out of bed. She sat there for a long time, her mind turning over last night, her feet chilling on the cool stone of the floor. Finally she scrubbed angrily at her face and set about getting dressed. She emerged some time later, glared at the stubbornly closed door down the hall, and set out for her sister's fields.

She spent the morning rambling about the country, focusing her mind on the task at hand, and pushing away the conflicting and confusing emotions that threatened to suffocate her. Finally, with the sun high in the sky and sweat soaking through her clothes, she turned for home. Breathing deeply, she sought and found an anchor in the force moving around her. Setting her teeth, she climbed the last rise before the stream bordering her sister's property. She could feel him before she crested the hill and she cursed as adrenaline spiked in her stomach. He was sitting on one of the large rocks jutting out over the water, his pant legs rolled above his knees, bare feet trailing in the water, a fishing pole laxly held in one hand. She felt her breath swept from her lungs as the sun glinted across his shoulders and sparked on the light chest hair that sprinkled his heavy muscles. She felt her strength fail and mouth go dry, and she could feel him there, across the stream, and knew that he knew that she was there, but he kept his head bent, watching his line in the water. One of the farm dogs came trotting across the water and up the rise, wagging it's tail at her. She felt Luke's sense reach for her, and sighing, she moved down the hill and splashed across the stream. He glanced up at her from the corner of his eyes as she paced towards him, and she clasped her hands together before her, trying to keep her eyes from the curve of his shoulders and the messy way his hair fell across his forehead. Luke smiled easily at her and Mara rolled her eyes. Stripping off her boots, she pulled her tight leggings up and wordlessly dropped her feet into the stream next to his. Luke smiled again and passed her a cup that had been resting on his other side. Surprised, Mara found it to be filled with caf and the smell of the beverage roused her stomach. Sipping gingerly, she passed it back to him and his fingers covered hers on the porcelain. If he noticed her inadvertent jolt, he gave no sign and easily returned the cup to his other side. He made no other motion to touch her and Mara found herself studying his physique. There were a good numbers of scars dragging across his torso and she thought of her own ribbon-striped body. The universe had not treated either of them lightly, she thought. Luke interrupted her wandering thoughts.

"see anything you like?" He grinned at her and she felt herself flush again. She kicked his ankle in the stream and he chuckled. He raised his free hand and tipped her chin towards him. Too tired to fight against it, she hung there, between his cheek and his shoulder, as he drew his eyes deliberately down her face. Face burning, she met his calm blue eyes as he gently took her lips with his own. The deep-seated fire spread through her chest and she turned into him. She felt him inhale sharply and time seemed to slow. Awkwardly, she felt her hand move, on it's own accord, reaching towards his stomach, to do what, she did not know. She hurriedly snatched it back. Luke broke from her lips and his free hand trailed down her neck, coming to rest on her clavicle. There was a distant splash as his fishing poll, forgotten, drifted into the merry current. Luke leaned dangerously into her, his stubble pricking her skin as he kissed her jawline and neck. Stunned, Mara felt once again drunk, and this time, she leaned backwards, her wandering hand found purchase on his bare ribcage as Luke followed her down. He propped himself next to her, idly stroking his hand across her forehead, moving her hair back from her face, studying her features, trailing his fingers once again across her lips. Frustration roared in Mara and she captured his hand. His chest stilled against her shoulder, and not looking at him, she pressed his palm against her lips. She felt him smile and he gently bent down and kissed her again. This time, lying flat on her back, half on rock and half on gently sloping grass, she wound her elbow behind his neck, pulling him against her with all the pent-up frustration she could manage. She could feel Luke smile against her lips, and again he pulled away. Anger swirled through Mara and she glared at him. He smiled down at her, a beautiful, peaceful, dumbass farmboy smile and slowly got to his feet. Mara closed her eyes. He pulled her up into his arms.

"unless you were really comfortable with that rock under your back." Luke muttered into her hair, his arm cinched around her waist. Mara felt her face flush and she bit her lip, winding her arm around Luke's neck once again for balance as he clumsily manuevered them towards a soft-looking patch of grass. (A/N: really...it's my own stupid story and I can't manage to get the characters making out in a convenient spot? they have to GET UP AND MOVE? who's in charge here?!?!?! seriously!..ugh.)

Mara was precious little help, being completely distracted by the feel of Luke's bare chest pressed flush against her and the sounds of his breath against her ear. She felt the force surrounding them, buffeting their little cocoon as Luke once again drew her down into the soft grass. His hands trailed gently across her skin, setting lines of fire blazing as he pulled at her clothing. But this time, when he leaned in to kiss her, there was a sense of urgency and fierceness that she felt echoed in her own throat. Against her better judgment, she found herself marveling at the wild beating of his heart, at the feel of the smooth ply of his back muscles under her hands, and at the soft catch of his breath by her ear as he settled his body against her. She bit her lip against his shoulder and Luke's warmth surrounded her.

(A/N: FINALLY!)

Later, as they lay watching the clouds, Luke's big hand made idle circles on her stomach and Mara felt her awkwardness return to her. She glanced at Luke, who appeared to be about to take a nap and didn't seem to have a care in the whole damn universe. Mara felt a cold prickling of fear. What had she done, why had she done it, and what the hell did it all mean. Luke's hand stilled on her stomach.

Several days went by. Luke seemed content to ignore the new facet of their relationship, which Mara counted as a relief, she still wasn't sure of her role in what had transpired between them, and for his part, Luke seemed to be determined to take his feelings with him to the grave. He had never struck her as the one-night-stand kind of guy, despite him being a fighter pilot, and certainly the manner in which he had touched her did not lead her to believe him emotionally detached from the experience, but since the afternoon in the meadow he had refrained from touching her again, even in a casual context. She had brought the men their noonday meals in the fields five times and each time he had accepted his package from her without touching her fingers or paying her more mind than if she had been her sister or one of her nieces. Gradually, Mara began to find her mind drifting to parts of that afternoon whenever she was unoccupied. She left half the washing on a rock by the river, she let the rice burn on the cooker, she failed to hear words that were spoken to her. She also found herself watching him intently, thinking of ways to innocently touch him, thinking of ways to speak to him without seeming to try. He managed to refrain from bestowing the attention she craved, and the absence of it irritated her. Her resentment grew and she began answering him in clipped, brittle tones, ignoring him, and privately referring to him in her mind as "the idiot farmboy." While she was busy ignoring him she missed the bright look in his eyes of suppressed mirth, or the odd wink her sister sent him, or how her niece giggled when she cut her own finger chopping vegetables when he came into the kitchen. Her resentment began to gnaw at her. Finally, after a week and a half, she spotted him headed out to the barn after dinner one evening and setting her jaw, she stalked out after him. She knew he felt her behind him, but he didn't turn as he entered the barn. He did, however, leave the door cracked open. Fuming, she shoved the door shut behind her. Luke turned on the hayloft ladder, bale in hand.

"Hey Mara." His voice was even and she read no surprise in his sense. Mara scowled.

"What the hell, Skywalker." Even to her own ears her voice sounded vicious. Luke sighed and continued up the ladder.

"What's wrong?" His voice was quiet, dry. Mara felt herself enclosed in dusty silence, and her bravado faded. She crossed her arms and glared at him over the loft railing. She cleared her throat, suddenly unsure of how to proceed.

"look. We both know what happened. We need to figure out how things go on from here." She complimented herself on sounding surprisingly rational.

Luke paused on his way back down the ladder. He pulled his work gloves off and Mara found herself watching the way his shirt clung to his chest as he came towards her.

"what do you want it to be, Mara?" His voice was quiet and she could feel his eyes burning heavy on her face. She bit her lip.

"I don't know." She shrugged, off-hand. She caught a glimmer of frustration from Luke and he turned away from her, putting his gloves back on.

"well when you figure out what you want, then we can worry about what I want." Mara felt her irritation ignite.

"Fine. You know, I should have shot your sorry ass when I had the fucking chance." She turned and ripped the barn door open and Luke made no answer. In the dark silence of the barn. Luke took a deep breath and rubbed his brow. Setting his teeth, he swung another bale of hay up and headed for the ladder.

Mara spent the rest of the evening watching the stars rise in her sister's fields. She knew what he was doing, but that didn't mean it didn't irritate the ever-loving crap out of her. She bit her lip, she closed her eyes. She thought about their afternoon together, about how large and gentle his hand had been against her stomach, about how he had been when she topped the rise and saw him fishing. She thought about his kindness, the warmth of his spirit that had enveloped her, of the severely irritating ways he had about him. She thought about how all the times he had helped her, and she thought about what had driven her to ask him to accompany her on this trip that by any account, did not really involve him at all. And she thought about all her lonely but safe nights on her smuggler's ship that she spent thinking about all the things that were wrong with her. Sighing, Mara sat up. Fifteen years ago, if someone had told her that she would find herself utterly captivated by the goodness, gentleness and pig-headed stubbornness of a slightly awkward simple-ish farmboy, she would have laughed and had them detained for questioning. Mara sighed. She knew her answer.

The house was dark and quiet and Mara found little to hamper her path. Bypassing her own door, she padded to Luke's. The light was off, but she could feel him moving restlessly behind the wood. She slid the door open and slipped inside. She felt his drowsy state recognize her and he shifted in his bed as she silently stripped her outer clothing and slid under the covers He rolled to face her in the heavy dark.

"so?" his voice was guarded and he still smelled of hay. "do you know what you want, or are you just trying jump my bones again?" Her mouth was dry, she searched and found no words. Searching in the bed clothes, Mara found one of his hands. She pulled his hand between her own and then against her lips. She felt his breath catch, and embarrassment heating her cheeks, she pressed the backs of his fingers against her face. She felt his sense reach for her and in the warm dark, his breath against her face, she surrendered. She felt him smile like dawn breaking across her and he pulled her into his arms. She knew his answer too.

The END!

I dunno...whatever! :)


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